Kate Garraway says husband Derek Draper is 'trapped' after lengthy COVID fight

Kate Garraway has said her husband Derek Draper is “trapped” and “fighting to get out” after his long COVID battle.

Draper, the Good Morning Britain star’s husband of 15 years, fell ill in March 2020 and has been in hospital since then.

Speaking on The One Show, Garraway said she feels as if she is on “a precipice”, trying to hold onto him.

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“If you get coronavirus and you are lucky, you live, fantastic. If you are unlucky you lose your life, but thank goodness, Derek is lucky, he hasn’t,” she said.

“But there is also a whole group of people that are trapped in the middle ground where the damage from coronavirus is so great that they are not sure that they can get their life back, and that’s where he is.”

Describing her husband as “an extreme case”, the TV star explained that he had “a prolonged disorder of consciousness” which she said means that there is some reaction.

“It is not like the coma we see in movies where people are lying in a vegetative state,” she said.

“He can open his eyes and before Christmas there was a lot of progress with words and communication and things.”

Garraway, 53, said she feels as if she is “on a lifeboat somehow and he is coming up and down”.

“You are on this precipice trying to hold on to him and there are moments when he bubbles up and you have some contact, predominantly at the moment on FaceTime because of the COVID restrictions,” she went on.

“It feels like you are having to fill him with so much positivity because he is going to sink down.”

Garraway also said her husband was now “fighting to get out”.

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The star – who shares two children with Draper - is now writing a book called The Power Of Hope about her husband’s fight and the impact on their family.

She is also releasing a documentary about Draper’s battle.

Kate Garraway: Finding Derek is set to air on ITV on 23 March.

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